みあ developmental landmark

Mia has been mimicing more sounds and words consistently last few days. Some of the new words are: gyuu(milk), vulva, bee(pee),
She likes to dance whenever she hears music or beats. She is very acurate to express Yes and No by nodding and shaking her head. ASL "All finished" is properly used. She uses "more" for saying I want it. When she wants additional something, she orally express "more" rather than signing.

Kai continues his practise with Japanese. Recently very naughty (I mean VERY).

Mia's Developmental Landmark

She added "Car" to her ASL vocabulary today. I was amazed that she communicated using hand and body (swaying) actions with the "broom" sound as we saw a car picture in a book. She was not actively taught the sign although I have shown it to her several times before.

Her ASL vocabulary to date: airplane, banana, bird, car, fish, look, milk, more,

Expressive language: ball (balloon), banana, bike, bird, book, bus, bye-bye, cat, dog, duck, Kai, look, Mamma (shouldn't it be "Mommy"?), truck (All the "B" words except book and bye are said [ba] but consistently used properly.)

She runs! Likes to climb up the couch and on top of the kitchen table. Good forward roll over the head. Likes to feed herself and avoids being fed...

Art Gallary visit etc

Mia and Kai went to see a Rembrandt, Vermeer et al exhibition at Vancouver Art Gallery today. Kai liked a painting of a sunken ship in a battle. Mia was excited to see a still life painting of birds. She exclaimed "ba! Baaa!" so much and loudly, we had to move along to calm her down. We experienced the camera of Vermeer's. It was amazing to see how clear the casted image can be in the simulated chamber of the camera obsucura (walk-in size!!).  It was a short and interupted gallery visit but sweet field trip for us nonetheless. 

As for myself, I recognised how poor my knowledge is for 17th C Duch paintings.  One of Rembrandt's paintings was so breathtakingly beautiful. Wish we could stay there for a while...

Mia 12 Months Old

Happy 1st Birthday Mia.

Mia 11 months old

Mia is now really capable of walking. She can reciprocate waving, clapping, and pointing. Some of her communicable words are:

• bye bye
  
• look
  
• book
  
• dog
  
• mom-mom
  

Memorable Line

"The Scottish distiller Thomas Dewar once said: 'Minds are like parachutes. They only function when open.' On the other hand, the New York Times publisher Arthur Hays Sulzberger stated: 'I believe in an open mind, but not so open that your brains fall out.'" Simon Singh "Trick or Treatment" (2008)

Movie Memo

The Cats of Mirikitani

The documentary movie of a man who live on a street of New York City. Amazing vitality and creativity of the "Grand Master Artist" Mirikitani has devastating history of Japanese-American concentration camp during WWII.

Kai's Skating Practice

It is his 3rd time to be on the ice. Getting a little more comfortable to move especially his right foot.

Rainy Day in Victoria

Rainy-stormy sort of days bring me some sense of excitement. I wonder if that's from whether (1) an anticipation of shiny and bright future outcome or (2) an adventurous mind set towards unusual occurrences. Either way, I have been enjoying looking at the rain blowing horizontally to the ground in this gloomy atmosphere. Ah, I think my excitement comes, at least partially, from the gratitude of not-being-in-the-nasty-harsh environment.
It is so luxurious to sip a cup of tea or coffee with rainy day music on. Here is my pick: Joni Mitchell Blue (1971). Absolutely wonderful!

Mia and Kai

Mia is taking a rare nap in the morning, and Kai busy as always.

Mia's First Steps

On February 25, 2009, Mia took 3 steps independently.
Mommy was present. Hooray!

Developmental Lamdmark

Finally, Mia started to accept food from a spoon!!

Mia the self-feeder is now a history.

She had rice cereal and a smallish piece of carrot cake.

The following clip is from new year's day in Alberta.
Kai's first experience of tobogganing.